When I look up articles and stories to gather more information on the Black Female experience in Adland, I always arrive at articles from US publications, with articles championing their black female leadership with stories of the challenges they’ve faced and overcome.

However, the same search in the UK delivers no response. So I thought I’d share my story to add to the very limited information that is out there about the lived experience of Black women in advertising. In honesty it is hard over here, you’re looked at with a sense of uneasiness and distrust from your white peers. I feel so alien and foreign to them, which makes them overly cautious every time I open my mouth in case I say the wrong thing or don’t use an English idiom in response to a client's question.

It’s like watching everyone else being offered a sweet, and by the time the bag gets to you, it’s empty but in typical British politeness, you’re told to hold onto the bag for next time. But each time you end up collecting bags of empty words and redundant experiences whilst your white counterparts are on their 5th or 7th sweet at this point.

This analogy sums up my experience. I’ve been working in the industry for five years and feel like a glorified email pusher and meeting room booker at best. I’m not allowed to speak to people directly as they will always go to my white manager for them to repeat exactly what I’ve just said as if they couldn’t possibly believe that what I was saying could be right.

It’s the fact that two weeks into an account executive role my white colleagues have been flown out to Barcelona for a shoot, getting a keen eye into production so early on in their careers. Meanwhile, I arrive in the office at 8:30am to set up meeting rooms and get asked to collect leaves from outside and pick up cardboard boxes from the street for a shoot.

As a Black woman in account management, I’ve always been given the bottom of the barrel tasks and never offered any help or training, just harsh criticism about how my face doesn’t fit. Going to lunches with the team, and if my food arrives early, being questioned as to why I got served before them. Subtly indicating that as a black woman I was beneath them and should be treated that way by everyone else too.

In nearly six years of my account management career, I’ve never been offered training, I’ve never been offered mentorship or made to feel empowered. I’ve just been let go at every twist and turn. I end up being the casualty of an industry that has been on its knees since Covid. Apart from when I was an intern and an entry- level account executive, where the diversity I brought made me a shiny new toy, garnering all the attention.

But once the novelty wore off, the mistrust seeps in and my career in the UK as a black woman has been a stagnant pond where instead of mold, I’ve grown trauma and confidence issues from watching my white peers that arrived after me soar in their careers.

This is the classic result of barriers to entry that impact black lives the most! I got the most attention and help in my career after the George Floyd murder as an attempt of white saviorism. Yet since then I’m still setting up meeting rooms, not being taught and most importantly not being given the grace my white colleagues get, to have a safe space to learn and make mistakes.

The impact of this is severe and now I understand why there are very few black faces in these all-white advertising spaces.